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Luther Sloan
Luther Sloan was a Human operative of the clandestine intelligence agency Section 31. Though he and the rest of Section 31 operated independently of the United Federation of Planets and performed actions most Federation citizens would consider morally reprehensible, he saw himself as doing what was necessary to protect it. So great was his dedication to protecting and preserving the Federation that he was willing to cut himself off entirely from his wife and the rest of his family. Sloan took a particular interest in Doctor Julian Bashir, who he felt would make an excellent operative. Interest in Bashir In 2374, Sloan staged an elaborate scenario in an attempt to recruit Bashir into the organization. He abducted the doctor from Deep Space 9 while he was sleeping (shortly before he was to depart for a medical conference, so no one would miss him) and placed him inside a holodeck simulation of the space station. In it, Sloan posed as an investigator from Starfleet's Department of Internal Affairs and pretended to investigate Bashir as a possible Dominion spy. However, Bashir passed the "test" with flying colors and his loyalty to the Federation proven to be above reproach, and he offered the doctor a position inside Section 31. However, Bashir refused, and Sloan returned him to the station. (DS9: "Inquisition") Later the next year, Sloan once again approached Bashir on Deep Space 9 to give him his first "assignment". Although Bashir had refused to join, Sloan claimed that he had been "accepted" into the organization and thus was needed to fulfill his "duties". Sloan goaded Bashir into joining the operation by appealing to Bashir's love of fictional spy dramas and intrigue. He instructed him to perform observations of various members of the Romulan government during an upcoming Federation-Romulan conference on Romulus, and in particular Koval, the chairman of the Tal Shiar. At the conference, Sloan posed as Wendell Greer, a representative from the Federation Department of Cartography. Through a complex series of events, Sloan convinced Bashir that he was planning to assassinate Chairman Koval. Sloan hoped that Bashir's sense of ethics would force him to try to alert the Romulans to Sloan's apparent threat. Bashir approached Senator Cretak, who agreed to break into Koval's personal database in an attempt to find evidence that would reveal Sloan's threat. However, Cretak was caught while trying to access the classified files and brought before the Continuing Committee, where she was censured for her improper and possibly treasonous behavior. Ultimately, the entire operation was revealed to be a ruse aimed at getting Koval — a Section 31 mole — elevated to the Continuing Committee. In addition, Admiral William Ross was revealed to be involved in the operation, working alongside Sloan. At the end of the conference, Sloan thanked Bashir for his sense of ethics and for doing "the right thing", while at the same time pointing out that Section 31 existed precisely to protect people like Bashir. (DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges") Attempted Genocide Several months later, while investigating a cure for the morphogenic virus that had infected Odo, Bashir came to the conclusion that the disease had been engineered by Section 31 as a way to attack the Founders and end the threat of the Dominion. Bashir and his friend Miles O'Brien devised an elaborate scheme to lure Sloan to the station with the hopes of forcing him to reveal the cure to the disease. Bashir informed Starfleet Medical that he had devised a cure to the virus, knowing that Section 31 would send an operative to destroy that information in order to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Dominion. (DS9: "Tacking into the Wind") When Sloan boarded Deep Space 9, Bashir stunned him and attempted to use Romulan mind probes to extract the information from Sloan's mind. However, Sloan attempted to commit suicide in order to prevent his knowledge from being revealed. Although Bashir managed to prolong Sloan's life, his death was inevitable within an hour. Desperate, Bashir and O'Brien using a neural interface to link their minds with Sloan's in a last-ditch attempt to discover the information. Fighting to the last, Sloan attempted to distract the two intruders with images of his wife, Jessica, and with an alter ego who professed to want to reveal the information. However, Bashir ultimately managed to find the cure buried away inside a mental recreation of Sloan's office. Sloan had one last trap planned for Bashir, however. With the secret of the cure revealed, Sloan offered to share with Bashir all of his secrets — enough information to bring down Section 31 entirely. But there wasn't enough time for Bashir to "discover" all of the information and still escape from Sloan's mind before Sloan died — if Bashir wanted to learn Sloan's secrets, he would be trapped as Sloan died. Fortunately, O'Brien managed to convince Bashir to leave before the end came. Although the secret of the cure to the morphogenic virus had been revealed, Sloan took the rest of his secrets about Section 31 to the grave. (DS9: "Extreme Measures") Questionable Information Much about the man known as Sloan remains unknown, and what we do know is shrouded in mystery. For example, while testing Bashir on the holodeck in their first encounter, Sloan claimed that his son, whose name was never revealed, was in the Seventh Fleet and was killed in a surprise Jem'Hadar attack. In the simulation, this was indicated to be a reason why Sloan thought Bashir was a Dominion spy; while the mention of Sloan's son may have been a ruse to increase the realistic nature of the simulation, it may have been based on Sloan's personal life. If the story was true, it may have influenced Sloan's decision to interrogate Bashir (in a manner of speaking) so thoroughly. This would also have given Sloan a personal motive to ensure that the morphogenic virus eliminated the Founders. Similarly, Koval's story about how Sloan came to work for Section 31 may not be entirely false. In Koval's version of events, after using the mind probe on Sloan, he discovered that Sloan had been the protege of Admiral Fujisaki, whose suspicious death was officially attributed to food poisoning. Sloan allegedly became convinced that the Tal'Shiar murdered Fujisaki and created Section 31 as a means by which he could exact revenge. The true nature of the relationship Sloan had with Fujisaki (if any) is unknown. The factual basis for information revealed while Bashir and O'Brien were inside Sloan's mind is also unclear. It is likely that Sloan, who was dying at the time, simply used elements of his own life to stall for time; however, it is plausible that he never had a wife or the other family ties he described. Among the things that may or may not be true is Sloan's claim that he once considered becoming a doctor. Memorable Quotes "How many lives do you suppose you've saved in your medical career?" "What has that got to do with anything?" "Hundreds? Thousands? Do you suppose those people give a damn that you lied to Starfleet Medical about your being genetically enhanced? I doubt it. We deal with threats to the Federation that jeopardize its very survival. If you knew how many lives ''we've saved, I think you'd agree that the ends do justify the means."'' : - Sloan and Bashir "The Federation needs men like you, doctor. Men of conscience. Men of principle. Men who can sleep at night... You're also the reason Section Thirty-One exists -- someone has to protect men like you from a universe that doesn't share your sense of right and wrong." : - Sloan Appearances DS9: *"Inquisition" *"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" *"Extreme Measures" Background Sloan and Section 31 epitomize DS9's vision of a more realistic universe in which the Federation struggles to maintain its high ideals amid difficult situations. Section 31 is one of the elements that has made DS9 highly controversial among Star Trek fans. It is highly unlikely that Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would have condoned the idea of a covert organization that answered to no one; Roddenberry's vision of the future was a utopian one in which mankind had a near-perfect society. Nonetheless, Section 31 has permeated the rest of the Trek franchise, appearing in Enterprise, as well as several TNG and DS9 novels. Luther Sloan may have been named for Martin Luther, credited with reforming Christianity in the Middle Ages. If this is the case, it likely refers to the way in which Section 31 altered the Trek universe, in essence taking away its innocence and making it more believable. de:Luther Sloan Sloan, Luther Sloan, Luther